Born a slave in Maryland, Harriet Tubman knew first-hand what it meant to be someone's property; she was whipped by owners and almost killed by an overseer. It was from other field hands that she first heard about the Underground Railroad which she travelled by herself north to Philadelphia. Throughout her long life (she died at the age of ninety-two) and long after the Civil War brought an end to slavery, this amazing woman was proof of what just one person can do.

Can Marcel make the ride of his life? Marcel loves riding his bicycle, whether he's racing through the streets of his small town in France or making bread deliveries for his parents' bakery. He dreams of someday competing in the Tour de France, the greatest bicycle race. But ever since Germany's occupation of France began two years ago, in 1940, the race has been canceled. Now there are soldiers everywhere, interrupting Marcel's rides with checkpoints and questioning. Then Marcel learns two big secrets, and he realizes there are worse things about the war than a canceled race. When he later discovers that his friend's entire family is in imminent danger, Marcel knows he can help -- but it will involve taking a risky bicycle ride to pass along covert information. And when nothing ends up going according to plan, it's up to him to keep pedaling and think quickly... because his friend, her family, and his own future hang in the balance.

In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. This seemingly small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned Rosa Parks the title OMother of the Civil Rights Movement.O This biography has blackand- white illustrations throughout.

Many girls in elementary and middle school fall in love with the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. What they don't always realise is that Wilder's books are autobiographical. This biography describes more of the details of Laura's real life as a young pioneer homesteading with her family on many adventurous journeys. Complete with charming illustrations, the narrative points out the differences between the fictional series as well as the many similarities. It's a fascinating story of a much-celebrated writer.

If not for a stint in reform school, young Louis Armstrong might never have become a musician. It was a teacher at the Colored Waifs? Home who gave him a cornet, promoted him to band leader, and saw talent in the tough kid from the even tougher New Orleans neighborhood called Storyville. But it was Louis Armstrong's own passion and genius that pushed jazz into new and exciting realms with his amazing, improvisational trumpet playing. His seventy-year life spanned a critical time in American music as well as black history.

No star in any genre has affected the world as deeply or has lasted as long without fading as Marilyn Monroe. This thought-provoking and wide-ranging collection of essays examines the undiminished incandescence of Marilyn Monroe -- the impact she has had on our culture, the evolution of her legend since her death, and what she tells us now about our lives and times -- and includes previously unpublished work from some of America's best writers, such as: Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Elliot Dark, Albert Mobilo, Marge Piercy, Lore Segal, Lisa Shea, and many more.

From her troubled family beginnings to the infamous $13 million auction held at Christie's in New York City, All the Available Light paints an unforgettable portrait of Marilyn as you've never seen her before.

This extremely rare cover photo was taken c. 1954, on the set of The Seven Year Itch.

Almost 100 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, Sojourner Truth was mistreated by a streetcar conductor. She took him to court and won! Before she was Sojourner Truth, she was known simply as Belle. Born a slave in New York sometime around 1797, she was later sold and separated from her family. Even after she escaped from slavery, she knew her work was not yet done. She changed her name and travelled, inspiring everyone she met and sharing her story until her death in 1883 at age eighty-six. In this easy to read biography, Yona Zeldis MoDonough continues to share that remarkable story.

Not just about Moses, whose origin story leaves open questions, this book looks back at the time when the commandments were written, how the belief in one all powerful God set the Israelites apart from other ancient peoples, and the roles the Ten Commandments have played in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It also looks at what each individual commandment means and how together they form the basis of leading a moral life as well as forming a just government.

The man who saved the lives of his PT-109 crewmen during WWII and became the 35th president fought-and won-his first battle at the age of two-and-a-half, when he was stricken with scarlet fever. Although his presidency was cut short, our nation's youngest elected leader left an indelible mark on the American consciousness and now is profiled in our "Who Was...?" series. Included are 100 black-and-white illustrations as well as a timeline that guides readers through this eventful period in history.

No one knows where the term "Underground Railroad "came from--there were no trains or tracks, only "conductors" who helped escaping slaves to freedom. Including real stories about "passengers" on the "Railroad," this book chronicles slaves' close calls with bounty hunters, exhausting struggles on the road, and what they sacrificed for freedom. With 80 black-and-white illustrations throughout and a sixteen-page black-and-white photo insert, the Underground Railroad comes alive

Born in Austria in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his first piece of music, a minuet, when he was just five years old! Soon after, he was performing for kings and emperors. Although he died at the young age of thirty-five, Mozart left a legacy of more than 600 works. This fascinating biography charts the musician's extraordinary career and personal life while painting a vivid cultural history of eighteenth-century Europe. Black-and-white illustrations on every spread explore such topics as the history of opera and the evolution of musical instruments. There is also a timeline and a bibliography.

Illustrated by Carrie Robbins.
Cover illustration by Nancy Harrison.

The Silverstein family is coming together in Great Neck, Long Island, for the nuptials of the youngest daughter. Always considered the favorite--and the object of much envy and resentment--Angelica has planned a fairy tale wedding to her fiance, a former fighter pilot. But there are storm clouds on the horizon.
Gretchen, Angelica's sister, is dealing with a failed marriage and her moody teenage daughter Justine. One brother is a callous businessman while the other is struggling with his search for love and a career. Her mother is in a battle of wills with the wedding planner, while her father, a recovering alcoholic, struggles to confront his ex-wife's lavish new life in the Long Island manor of her dreams. And her grandmother Lenore has decided it's high time to take charge and set her grandchildren on their proper paths.
Then an impulsive act by Justine puts the entire wedding at risk and brings the simmering family tensions to the boiling point. Before vows are exchanged, this day will change more than one life forever...

A fresh and whimsical novel featuring a single mother in Brooklyn who suddenly discovers an ATM machine that gives her free (and unrecorded) cash; what she does with that money changes many lives--including her own.
Mia Saul is down on her luck. She's been dumped by her husband, fired from her job, and forced to move with her ten-year-old daughter Eden to a crummy apartment. Juggling temp jobs, arguing over child support, and trying to keep Eden's increasingly erratic behavior in check leaves Mia weary and worn out. So when a routine stop at an ATM turns into a stroke of luck Mia never expected, the results are nothing short of...magical.
Teetering between guilt and generosity, Mia takes advantage of her sudden windfall in small ways. She also develops relationships with a variety of neighborhood characters she ordinarily would never have crossed paths with--and turns her life around in ways she never thought possible.
Poignant, smart, and utterly captivating, this quirky "pay-it-forward" tale captures the everyday concerns of women everywhere.

A tender story about the power of love in the face of loss
Nine-year-old Claudine doesn't want to leave her much-loved home in France to go live in America, not without her parents. But she knows about the shortages, about the yellow stars Jews must wear, and about Adolf Hitler. And she knows that there are some things she needs to do even when she doesn't want to. It's wartime, and there is much that is different now. There are more things that Claudine will lose to this terrible war. But not everything that is lost must be lost forever. Here is a moving story about lost and found lives, and the healing power of love.

A THOROUGHLY GROWN-UP LOOK AT A TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSE OF OUTSTANDING PROPORTIONS

To some she's a collectible, to others she's trash. In The Barbie Chronicles, twenty-three writers join together to scrutinize Barbie's forty years of hateful, lovely disastrous, glorious influence on us all. No other tiny shoulders have ever, had to carry the weight of such affection and derision and no other book has ever paid this notorious little place of plastic her due. Whether you adore her or abhor her, The Barbie Chronicles will have you looking at her in ways you never imagined.

A groundbreaking Jewish feminist short story collection. Short story collections focusing on Jewish writers have-no surprise-typically given women authors short shrift. This new volume represents the best Jewish feminist fiction published in Lilith magazine, and does what no other collection has done before in its geographic scope, its inclusion of twenty-first-century stories, and its Jewish feminist focus. This collection showcases a wide range of stories offering variegated cultures and contexts and points of view: Persian Jews; a Biblical matriarch; an Ethiopian mother in modern Israel; suburban American teens; Eastern European academics; a sexual questioner; a Jew by choice; a new immigrant escaping her Lower East Side sweatshop; a Black Jewish marcher for justice; in Vichy France, a toddler's mother hiding out; and more. Organized by theme, the stories in this book emphasize a breadth of content, and our hope is that in reading you'll appreciate the liveliness of the burgeoning self-awareness brought to life in each tale, and the occasional funny, call-your-friend-and-tell-her-about-it moment. Skip around, encounter an author whose other work you may know, be enticed by a title, or an opening line. We hope you'll find both pleasure and enlightenment-and sometimes revelation-within these pages.

What do you do when you have to give up the person you love most?
Thirty-five-year-old Miranda is not an impulsive person. She's been at "Domestic Goddess" magazine for eight years, she has great friends, and she's finally moving on after a breakup. Having a baby isn't even on her radar--until the day she discovers an abandoned newborn on the platform of a Brooklyn subway station. Rushing the little girl to the closest police station, Miranda hopes and prays she'll be all right and that a loving family will step forward to take her.
Yet Miranda can't seem to get the baby off her mind and keeps coming up with excuses to go check on her, until finally a family court judge asks whether she'd like to be the baby's foster parent--maybe even adopt her. To her own surprise, Miranda jumps at the chance. But nothing could have prepared her for the ecstasy of new-mother love--or the heartbreak she faces when the baby's father surfaces....
CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED

Ten years after losing her husband, Christina Connelly has worked through the pain, focusing on raising her teenage daughter and managing her small decorating business. But her romantic life has never recovered. Still, it's irksome to be set up with arrogant, if handsome, doctor Andy Stern at her friend's wedding. If he wasn't also a potential client, needing his Upper East Side apartment redesigned, she would write him off.
This is never going to work, Andy thinks. Still grieving his wife and struggling with a troubled son, he's not looking for a woman, and certainly not someone as frosty and reserved as Christina. Their relationship will be strictly business. Yet to everyone's surprise--including their own--these two find themselves falling in love.
But if reconciling with their pasts is difficult, blending their lives and children to create a new family is nearly impossible. They've been given a second chance...but can they overcome all the obstacles in the way of happily ever after?